Jaap Blonk proves, every time he opens his mouth, that the human voice is the original instrument and still the most radical one. The Dutch sound poet, vocalist, and composer has spent over four decades at the forefront of experimental vocal music — from solo performances of his own phonetic compositions to wild improvisational exchanges with the best free players on the planet.
Blonk studied mathematics before music, which might explain the structural precision underlying even his most anarchic work. A devoted interpreter of Dadaist and Futurist texts as well as a prolific composer of his own material, he has performed and recorded with figures including Han Bennink, Mats Gustafsson, Michael Moore, and many others. He runs Kontrans Records, his artist-run label within the Catalytic Sound cooperative.
In this Q&A, Blonk talks about language, breath, phonetics, and what it means to make music with nothing but the body — and why that is, paradoxically, one of the most liberating forms of independent artistic practice.
Q: What has been inspiring you lately?
A: Mostly landscapes, either on hikes or on bicycle trips.
Q: Favorite musicians, artists, thinkers and why (current or general)?
A: Current favorite composer: the German Enno Poppe. Combining rigorous systems with a great sense of organic coherence and growth. Using sounds and instruments not often heard in contemporary composed music, to good effect.
Favorite artist of all time: Paul Klee, for precision and unlimited imagination, giving me a wonderful incentive for drawing.
Thinker I will be reading until I die, hoping I will gradually understand more of his intractable work: Alain Badiou (regular brain crunching makes you live longer).
Q: Favorite films, books, etc. and why (current or general)
A: Reading the novels of Thomas Bernhard (in German). Finished the first three. Strangely, the monomaniacal drive of his long sentences sometimes confers to me a similar feeling as high-energy improvised music.
Always coming back to Saul Bellow. Wise and very moving. Recently read “Mr Sammler’s Planet” and “Ravelstein”, reread “Herzog”.
I rarely go to the cinema or watch films at home. Last year I got a DVD set of the last season of “Twin Peaks“, which I watched during recovery from surgery. Great work, I tremendously enjoyed that.
Q: Favorite record no one else has listened to?
A: Well, how can I know? At least, I think very few people in the Western world have listened to “Korowód” by the Polish singer Marek Grechuta. I bought this LP in Poland in 1972. My favorite song on it was “Ocalić od zapomnienia” (“Save from Oblivion”).
Q: Best thing you’ve seen on Youtube (recently)?
Q: Dream trio/quartet/quintet with historical figures?
A: Lately I am more into the duo format. Duets with Sunny Murray, Charles Mingus or with Cecil Taylor could have been great!
Q: Last performance you saw that expanded the way you think about your own work?
A: For decades already, I have been getting the best new ideas for my own work while attending concerts that bored me… I’d rather not mention any in particular.
Q: Record you most wish you had played on?
A: Could be Derek Bailey’s “Ballads” album. I think I would have found a way to scramble the texts and melodies of the standards that might have made a good combination.
Q: Recording people would be most surprised you listen to?
A: Sometimes I really need Karen Dalton’s “It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going to Love You the Best“. But who doesn’t?